Marcos Evangelista de Morais Cafu draws Spain at Doha. Credits: Image – Getty; Video – Newshub
New Zealand’s Football World Cup dream just became a little more difficult, with the final pool draw for this year’s tournament in Qatar.
Should the All Whites overcome their final qualifying hurdle – an intercontinental playoff with Central Americans Costa Rica – they will land in the unofficial ‘Pool of Death’, featuring football heavyweights Spain, Germany and Japan.
The Kiwi dream survived its first challenge, when the national men’s side beat Solomon Islands 5-0 in the Oceania qualifying final, booking an encounter with the fourth-placed CONCACAF (North & Central America, Caribbean) team.
Costa Rica have beaten USA in their final zone outing to clinch that spot.
But world governing body FIFA has a nasty little surprise for the winners of that playoff, throwing them to the sharks in Group E.
Bearing in mind there are probably no easy pools, New Zealand (or Costa Rica) will face four-time champions Germany (three as West Germany), 2010 winners Spain and Japan, who reached the round of 16 four years ago, before losing to Belgium.
While New Zealand sit at 101 in world rankings, Spain rank seventh, Germany 12th and Japan 23rd.
Last time they qualified for the World Cup tournament, the historic ‘undefeated’ All Whites drew with Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay, without progressing past pool play at South Africa 2010.
The full 2022 draw with world rankings:
Group A: Qatar (51), Netherlands (10), Senegal (20), Ecuador (46)
Group B: England (5), United States (15), Iran (21), Wales/Scotland/Ukraine
Group C: Argentina (4), Mexico (9), Poland (26), Saudi Arabia (49)
Group D: France (3), Denmark (11), Tunisia (35), Peru/Australia/UAE
Group E: Spain (7), Germany (12), Japan (23), Costa Rica/New Zealand
Group F: Belgium (2), Croatia (16), Morocco (24), Canada (38)
Group G: Brazil (1), Switzerland (14), Serbia (25), Cameroon (37)
Group H: Portugal (8), Uruguay (13), South Korea (29), Ghana (60)